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SECRETARY GATES SPEECH: ECONOMIC CLUB OF CHICAGO Though Secretary Gates gave considerable attention to the termination of the F-22 program, his July 16th speech used that aircraft primarily to illustrate what he believes must be done to redesign America’s armed forces for irregular warfare and conflict with modern armies. Despite criticism from Congress and retired senior officers, he maintained that entire weapons programs must be eliminated in order to free additional funding for such weapons as advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, now much in demand along the Afghan-Pakistan border. As Mr. Gates sees the Pentagon, it gives little attention to how better to “protect our troops and defeat the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a strange claim in light of, for example, the Army’s abandonment of its divisional organization in favor of relatively independent combat brigades and Army and Marine Corps efforts to retrain and re-equip America’s ground forces for counter-insurgency operations. Claiming to favor weapons of the future over those useful in past conflicts, Gates nevertheless announced funding for a new generation of ballistic-missile submarines -- a continuation of the Cold War strategy of nuclear deterrence -- while proposing elimination of the Airborne Laser, which suggests he continues that earlier era’s skepticism about ballistic-missile defense. Of what use, one wonders, will an ICBM be against terrorists or states like Iran -- after the fact punishment? As Gates reshapes priorities for the organization, equipment, and funding of the armed forces to win present and future wars, he promised never to forget that the world is a dangerous and hostile place for the United States, even as the nature of the threats it faces change. He emphatically asserted that he has not become a dove. |
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